This month, Victorian Freemasons embrace Men’s Health Week 12-18 June. Leading up to the week, there has been a focus on prostate cancer screening and especially mental health.

On 7 June, in conjunction with Mirvac, Freemasons Victoria launched “Starting the Conversation” at Victoria’s Parliament House; the conversation about suicide prevention. The launch featured John Patterson, a farmer and Freemason from the Mingay district nearLismore in western Victoria. Bro John lost his brother Charles, a sheep farmer, to suicide 23 years ago and has spent the last two years travelling and speaking to Lodges and community groups about suicide prevention. Two years ago just before facing an audience, John decided to ditch a written speech on suicide prevention in favour of reciting a moving poem titled Rain from Nowhere. I’ve placed a link following to John’s recital on youtube below.